IVECO brand president Pierre Lahutte (centre) speaking at the IAA press conference.

IVECO is making history at IAA by showcasing its full commercial offering of alternative traction vehicles on a 100% Diesel Free stand.

“IVECO is the first manufacturer in the history of the IAA to present a stand without a single diesel engine – neither on the vehicles or their bodies,” said Pierre Lahutte, IVECO brand president.

Lahutte said the transport industry was changing, as the pressure on diesel mounts and the energy transition gains momentum, and their display of electric, CNG and LNG vehicles offered a viable alternative to diesel vehicles.

“In addition, natural gas offers the possibility for a seamless transition to biomethane and renewable energy, achieving zero emissions and opening the door to a circular economy approach that can go so far as achieving negative emissions and carbon sequestration.”

A circular economy based on the generation of energy from organic or agricultural waste is possible with biomethane. This can be done at an organic waste treatment centre, which generates natural gas and fertiliser from door-to-door collection, green waste, institutional catering and municipal waste. This approach can be taken even further when methane is generated in a biodigester on a farm, using crops and agricultural waste. As they grow, the crops absorb CO2 and convert it into carbohydrates, fixing the carbon and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. In the farm‘s biodigester, the crop residues decompose through an anaerobic digestion process, producing biogas. This is purified into biomethane, which can be transported to filling stations and used to fuel natural gas powered vehicles.

This process also produces a nutrient-rich substance used as fertiliser compost, returning nutrients to the land, increasing its organic matter content and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. As a result, this circular economy approach goes beyond reducing CO2 emissions well to wheel, as it fixes carbon in the ground, reducing CO2 in the air and making the cycle carbon negative.

For urban and suburban goods transport, IVECO is showing different models of Daily Natural Power, four featuring the class-exclusive Hi-Matic transmission.

For urban and regional transport missions, IVECO has two Eurocargo focused on municipal applications, both in CNG version and already compliant with EURO VI Step D emissions standards, one year ahead of time. One is equipped with a 3-way tipper by Meiller, while the second has a sweeper body developed by Johnston Engineering that combines the truck‘s CNG engine with a hydrostatic transmission, achieving a dramatic reduction in emissions compared with traditional truck-mounted sweepers, which usually add a second diesel engine.

An industry first is the new 26-tonne 400hp Stralis NP rigid equipped with a Frappa body and featuring Carrier Supra CNG technology. This is a 100% natural gas, 0% diesel, 100% simple truck with refrigerated body. Contrary to standard trucks of this type with two diesel engines, this only uses CNG.

For long-distance, IVECO‘s solution is LNG technology, leading the way with the Stralis NP, the first natural gas truck specifically designed for long-haul transport on the market.

Also in this sector, IVECO is presenting another industry first, the unique 400hp Stralis X-Way Natural Power equipped with a CIFA electric concrete mixer that offers a 100% zero diesel, zero oil solution. The truck runs on bioCNG and is equipped with the Energya hybrid plug-in concrete mixer developed by CIFA. An electric engine powered by a lithium battery operates the mixer. It also features a Kinetic Energy Recovery System that recovers the truck‘s energy when decelerating.

The other Stralis NP models on the stand include the first 460hp LNG truck for swap body missions equipped by SDG / Spier for Fraikin‘s rental fleet; the first 6×2 LNG tractor with 750 km autonomy, a 4×2 LNG tractor with 1600 km autonomy, and a low tractor in LNG version with 1150 km autonomy.